Olmert and Abbas to meet, official says

HAMAS BYPASS?The Israeli and Palestinian leaders may meet soon in a bid to kick-start the Middle East peace talks, an Israeli official revealed

AP , JERUSALEM

Palestinian women from the Hamas women's union visit the family of Samr Sabeh, 21, who is held in an Israeli jail and gave birth on Monday, in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.

PHOTO: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to meet moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after visiting Washington, an Israeli official said on Tuesday -- a nod to Abbas' position that Israeli-Palestinian contacts need not be completely cut off because of the Hamas takeover of the Palestinian government.

The official said no date has been set for the summit, the first since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January. Israel insists it won't talk to the militants sworn to its destruction, and it was not clear if using Abbas to bypass Hamas could lead to a resumption of Middle East peace talks.

The Israeli official spoke on condition of anonymity because firm plans have not been made. Israel has said it would not regard the Palestinian Authority as a two-headed entity, negotiating peace with Abbas while fighting Hamas. But Olmert never ruled out talks with Abbas, who unlike Hamas is eager to negotiate with Israel about creating a Palestinian state.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas was "ready to meet with Mr. Olmert as soon as he forms his government."

Olmert, whose new government is to be sworn in today, plans to set Israel's border by 2010, completing construction of a separation barrier, evacuating tens of thousands of Jewish settlers and withdrawing from parts of the West Bank on the other side of the barrier. He said he would try to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians, but would take unilateral action if that fails.

Abbas, a moderate elected separately a year earlier, has been urging Israel to conduct peace talks through him, bypassing Hamas.

Hamas rejects the concept of a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East. Some Hamas officials have indicated they would accept a temporary Israeli presence if Israel pulls out of all of the West Bank and allows millions of refugees to return to Israel -- far from a starting point for talks acceptable to Israel.

In the past decade, Hamas has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, killing hundreds, but the Islamic group has largely complied with a ceasefire announced in February last year by Abbas and then-prime minister Ariel Sharon at a summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik. There have been no summits since then.

Olmert's West Bank pullout plans are expected to top the agenda when he meets US officials in Washington. That trip is expected to take place shortly after the new Israeli government is installed.

The planned West Bank pullout would follow Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last summer after 38 years of occupation. In recent weeks Gaza militants have fired daily barrages of homemade Qassam rockets at southern Israel from Gaza, and Israel has retaliated with artillery fire and air strikes.

Israel's military chief said in comments published on Tuesday that he opposed reoccupying Gaza to try to stop the rocket fire.

Lieutenant General Dan Halutz also warned Hamas that Israel would not "hold back'' if it continued to support attacks on Israel.